Aussie Medallion (44" x 44") was inspired by the Australian print with the curious name "Women's Business". And while I have been to Australia, I did not buy this fabric there. I got it at a local shop. I love the sunny colors, but also the variety of shape and line in this fabric. You can see more of it below in the photo that shows the back. This piece started out in the Beaver Island Quilt Retreat that I went to in September 2013. This was the second piece I worked on and at the time I only managed to get through the first round of liberated triangles. Also, at that time I had a different plan for the corner squares. You can see that idea in the last photo. When I got the top out to finish I tried working with the appliqued flowers, but they just bothered me for some reason. I tried many different things for the corners. I think I had about 20 possible choices, but finally went with these fussy cut echoes of the center.

I got the top done a few months ago and decided to hand quilt it. I didn't do any marking at all. I free hand quilted the printed areas according to the fabric design. On the liberated spiky triangles I quilted a 1/4" around the shapes. In the last border I decided to do randomly different designs in the large triangles. I did repeat some of the designs, but it was fun to decide what to do on each one.

I even did my initials in one of the triangles. I rather like that and hope to use it more often.

Isn't the back lovely? I originally bought just one yard of the print, but went back for another yard when I decided to use more of it on the front. I then had enough to use it on the back and binding. This pleases me to have the back just as nice as the front and I never have confusion over which quilt it is in a stack. Below is the original design with appliqued corner blocks. The other great news today is from the Modern Quilt Guild, which announced that they will be now putting on QuiltCon every year and alternating locations from west to east. In 2016 the show will be in Pasadena, CA and Gwen Marston will be the keynote speaker! She will also teach and have a special exhibit. I am so excited! I already have a hotel reservation. I am feeling very inspired to make quilts to enter in next year's show, so that will be another focus this year.